QuackShot: Starring Donald Duck, known in Japan as I Love Donald Duck: Guruzia Ou no Hihou (アイ ラブ ドナルドダック グルジア王の秘宝?), is a 1991 platforming video game developed by Disney Interactive Studios and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. The game was released in Europe in 1991, in North America on December 19, 1991 and in Japan on December 20, 1991. It stars Donald Duck and his three nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, as treasure-hunters. Much of the game is patterned after the first three Indiana Jones films.
QuackShot is part of a series of games that Sega of Japan produced for the Sega Genesis based on Walt Disney cartoon characters. Its 8-bit counterpart is Lucky Dime Caper, released only for the Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear. The game also was on a cartridge entitled "Disney Collection" bundled with Castle of Illusion. QuackShot was converted for the Sega Saturn and released together with Castle of Illusion only in Japan as part of the Sega Ages series in 1998. It is a straight conversion of the game with no substantial changes.
QuackShot was released to mostly positive reviews from video game journalists. The game was universally lauded for its graphics, with magazines like Sega Pro describing them as "some of the best graphics around." The game was also praised for its music and puzzles, as well as their clever use in the game. However, QuackShot was criticized for its controls, being described by IGN as "float-y" and making certain segments of the game unnecessarily difficult. The game was also criticized for its lack of difficulty overall as well as its lack of speech samples, which several other Genesis games of the time had.
The player, as Donald, ventures through a variety of side-scrolling levels. Generally, each level is divided into an overland part and a dungeon, such as the Maharajah's palace or the temple in which the Great Duck Treasure resides. Although the player may choose any order to play the overland sections, various obstacles prevent the player from entering the dungeons outside of a specific order. In addition to this, some levels provide the player with vital clues which solve puzzles needed to progress in later sections. Once Donald has completed the overland section of an area, he may leave by calling his nephews' biplane, and will return to the dungeon entrance of that area if the player chooses to return.
Donald is armed with a special gun that can shoot plungers, popcorn or bubble gum. Donald has unlimited plungers which can only stun enemies, and can collect popcorn and gum along the way or get the latter from Gyro Gearloose. Later in the game, the plunger is upgraded to act as a temporary platform to climb walls with and, when stuck to a passing bird, allows Donald to traverse longer distances. Donald can also pick up chili peppers in certain levels, which increase his temper, eventually temporarily allowing him to become invincible, go faster and knock out enemies in his path.
Notes
Sega Genesis/Megadrive Controls:
Press the 1 key to start games. Use Arrow Keys to move up, left, right and down. There are three buttons, A, B and C, which are CONTROL, ALT/OPTION and SPACE.